Red makeup against the world

Chapter 85
Thinking of Uncle Xu and Eldest Young Master in prison, shopkeeper Yu wiped away the tears from his eyes, and said: "Madam, it's inconvenient to visit Dali Temple. I went there once in the first month. The cell is damp, and Uncle's legs are already a little No, it hurts often now. He is often worried about his family, worried that the wife and the children will have a bad life. I am afraid that he will be worried, and I have not reported the news of the death of the wife to the uncle. A little mentally depressed."

Mrs. Xu knew in her heart that life in prison must be bad.But hearing shopkeeper Yu talking about it with his own ears, he was still worried.Xu Wan was really afraid that she would be troublesome, so she hurriedly said, "Don't worry, Grandmother, we have arrived. We will find a chance to see Father and Brother as soon as possible."

Mrs. Xu settled her mind and asked, "What was the situation that day? Tell me slowly." Although what happened has already been explained clearly in letters, the details still need to be dictated face to face.

Shopkeeper Yu cupped his hands and replied, "This matter has to start with the delivery of fabrics to the palace."

Qinglong five years, midsummer.

The competition among imperial merchants has always been the fiercest.At the beginning of each year, Gongzhong will determine the merchants to supply this year, and only one supplier will supply a category.The one that serves charcoal only serves charcoal fire, and the one that serves vegetables and fruits is another one.In this way, if there is a problem with the fruit, just go to that one, avoiding the situation of pushing each other.

Selling goods to the palace, the profit is actually extremely thin.It takes a lot of money to manage the business just to get the qualification of the imperial merchant every year.There are so many nobles in the palace, and there are nobles speaking behind every imperial merchant, so it depends on which nobleman's words are most effective.

As for the goods, not only are the inspections strict, but the guards and eunuchs in the palace often need money to handle them, otherwise they will ask the merchants to pay fines on the grounds that they are unqualified.As the saying goes, "The king of Hades is easy to see, but the little devil is hard to deal with." If the merchant is reluctant to part with the money, there will be endless troubles.The nobleman would not open his mouth for such a trivial matter, and cut off the wealth of the servants in the palace.

If there is any problem with the goods supplied to the palace, they will be fined in silver or beheaded in severe cases.Therefore, no matter who the imperial merchants won the qualifications of the year, there will be a tacit understanding that what is supplied to the palace is the safest goods, but not the best.For example, the best-tasting but perishable fruit, the top-quality tea that only produces a few taels a year, requires five embroiderers to make a few horses of cloth in a year.

These top-level goods are either unstable in quality and prone to problems.If the emperor ate bad fruit, would he still want his head?Either the output is very small, if a certain concubine likes it very much, and the emperor orders [-] horses as a tribute, where can I provide it?The emperor doesn't care about these details.

Therefore, the goods supplied by each family to the palace may not taste the best, but they must be the safest; the fabrics may not be the most beautiful, but they must be able to be supplied for many years.

However, the profits are so thin, the requirements are so strict, and there are still people who flock to the business of beheading.The reason for this is that as long as you are elected as the imperial merchant of the year, the palace will reward the merchant with a "Queen Pass".Merchants can rely on this to exempt all checkpoint taxes on the caravan on the road.Although it is stated in the reward, only the goods in the palace are exempted.But in actual operation, it is equivalent to exempting the merchant from customs clearance tax for most of the goods in this year, and only paying a small part to save the whole face.

All those who apply for the qualification of imperial merchants are wealthy merchants, and the goods circulate throughout Gaomang.Calculated over the past year, it is a huge sum of money, far exceeding the money and corresponding risks invested in the qualification to become an imperial merchant.What's more, over the years, there are only a handful of imperial merchants who have been convicted for supply problems.With such a large profit, merchants ignore the risks and scramble for it one after another.And as long as you are selected as an imperial merchant, you can play the banner of the imperial merchant among the people, gain word of mouth, and your business will improve by [-]%.The powerful families are also more inclined to buy the goods of the imperial merchants, feeling that they are more secure.

The palace turned a blind eye to this situation and gave them acquiescence, always giving them some sweets, otherwise, wouldn't it be embarrassing if no one in the palace supplied them?
In the fifth year of Qinglong, the Zeng family of the big Jia in the capital successfully hooked up with the empress dowager and became an imperial merchant who supplied clothing materials.

And all of this had nothing to do with "The Story of Splendid Embroidery", until midsummer, when the Palace Clothing Bureau handed over the purchasing list of clothing materials to the Zhen family.It is customary for the palace to purchase clothing materials twice a year.Spring and summer are purchased at the beginning of the year, and autumn and winter are purchased in midsummer.

The Zhen family got a new purchase list, and one of them was a kind of "interwoven damask machine silk" which made them have a hard time.

Yarn machine silk is a new type of fabric spun in Suzhou in recent years. It has both the smoothness and softness of "damask", light and thin texture, and the tight texture of "silk". It is gorgeous and lustrous, stable in output and moderate in price.But in the palace, this kind of fabric is not sought after.Concubines prefer those luxurious fabrics that can show their status.

And Shangyi Bureau issued this kind of fabric entirely because of the newcomer Liu Zhaoyuan.Liu Zhaoyuan was originally from Jiangnan, and entered the palace in the year of the general election after Emperor Yonglong ascended the throne.These two years have been unknown, until this year, he was favored by the emperor, and he was in the limelight for a while.When she entered the palace, "silk machine silk" had only come out not long ago, and she had always missed this kind of fabric, and entrusted her with the yearning for her hometown.Now that she has been favored by the emperor, there are people who go to please her, and the Shangyi Bureau is no exception.

Aunt Chen from the Clothing Bureau went to ask Liu Zhaoyuan for her opinion, holding a brochure for buying clothes.Liu Zhaoyuan held her fragrant cheeks, looked back and forth twice, hesitated to speak.

Aunt Chen looked at her words and asked, "Miss Zhaoyuan, but is there any clothing material you want, is it on this list?"

Liu Zhaoyuan sighed softly, and said, "I remember that in Suzhou, there was a kind of material called 'silk machine silk'. Before entering the palace, I liked it very much, but I haven't seen it for a long time now."

Aunt Chen has worked in the clothing bureau for many years and knows all kinds of fabrics by heart.He laughed and said, "I don't need my mother to worry about such a small matter. The 'woven silk silk' produced in Suzhou is very good for making underwear and pajamas. In the past two years, a new kind of 'woven silk silk' has been released. ', woven with twill, it looks like ice, and the light is like a mirror. Madam, do you want to try this new fabric?"

Liu Zhaoyuan has been in the palace for six years, and she doesn't know much about the changes in "silk machine silk".Hearing Aunt Chen's introduction, knowing that on the basis of "silk machine silk", there are new styles, so she readily agreed.

Therefore, "interwoven damask machine silk" appeared on the purchase list.

The Zeng family has been an imperial merchant for many years, and they usually prepare the clothes commonly used in the palace in advance.Only those that cannot be used up in the palace will be sold.But this kind of "interwoven damask machine silk" is a new type of clothing material, which has never been purchased in the palace, and the Zeng family did not prepare this kind of fabric themselves.Knowing that "Splendid Embroidery" is the leader of the silk industry in Jiangnan Road, he approached Xu Changzong to discuss the purchase of "interwoven satin machine silk".

Xu Changzong's personality is very similar to Mr. Xu's, adhering to the belief of "benevolence, integrity, and stability" in business.Therefore, over the years, "Splendid Tale" has taken steps one step at a time, and it has been extremely solid.Although some opportunities for rapid expansion have been given up, the success lies in being safe and the business is booming.

Therefore, when the Zeng family came to the door and offered to buy clothes for the palace, Xu Changzong flatly refused and did not agree.

　the third
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(End of this chapter)